The Senghenydd colliery disaster, also known as the Senghenydd explosion (Welsh: Tanchwa Senghennydd), occurred at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales, on 14 October 1913. The tribunal concluded the disaster was not “villainy,” but rather “a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude by many men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted, of failure to heed clear warnings, and of a total lack of direction from above.”. She showed a deep, poignant grief—an atypical display of emotion for a characteristically stoic queen. More than 50 years ago, Aberfan, a small coal mining town in Wales, was irreversibly changed in a few minutes when 144 people, mostly school children, were killed by a coal-waste landslide. All in all, 144 people were killed by the disaster, 116 of them children. Here’s what you need to know about what really happened. It wasn’t until 1997 that the funds for removing the spoil tips were repaid to the victims of the disaster—without interest. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Adrienne Westenfeld is a writer and editor at Esquire, where she covers books and culture. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Live TV In Season Three, Episode Three, Queen Elizabeth II deals with the fallout from the Aberfan Disaster, a catastrophic landslide in a Welsh mining town … On October 21, 1966, a mining accident occurred in the South Wales village of Aberfan. The 2020 Movies That Are Streaming Online Early, What Happens If Trump Can't Fulfill His Duties, Dickies Work Pants Are the Brand at Its Best, The Turntable to Buy for Killer Sound and Style. The Aberfan Disaster Fund raised the modern equivalent of $16.6 million, with 90,000 donations pouring in from around the globe. The 1966 Welsh mining tragedy claimed the lives of 116 children and 28 adults and features heavily in the third season of Netflix’s “The Crown”. How Much of 'The Revenant' Is a True Story? Some of the region's coal seams contained high quantities of firedamp, a highly explosive ga… The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in Wales on 21 October 1966. Families were initially refused financial assistance to pay for their children’s gravestones. Meanwhile, families of deceased children were required to prove that they were “close” to their children in order to receive a meager 500 euro settlement.

In fact, Lord Robens was chosen by the British government to chair a review of public health and safety. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. When the government dismissed their pleas, they protested, dumping sacks of coal slurry in the lobby of the Welsh Office. Pantglas Junior School was buried by the landslide, with students and teachers dying from impact injuries or from asphyxiation under the rubble. Residents of Aberfan pled with the government to remove the spoil tips surrounding the town, claiming that living in their shadow after disaster amounted to psychological torture.